Overview
- A Palestinian activist group said a steering-committee leader had sex with three volunteers on a boat to Gaza, and news reports identified the figure as Brazilian organizer Thiago Avila.
- Avila rejected the claims as false and described them as a smear campaign in messages reported by the New York Post.
- The flotilla’s press team said an internal ethics review found no complainants, witnesses, or evidence and said there was no basis to proceed.
- Organizers say this spring’s voyage includes more than 70 boats and about 1,000 participants leaving from Barcelona to spotlight conditions in Gaza.
- The group says it created an ethics committee after last year’s trips, and earlier leadership disputes led Greta Thunberg to step down from the steering committee during a 2025 convoy.